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Ransom of Red Chief by O'Henry ~ April 15

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BooksAdmin:
The Ransom of Red Chief
by O'Henry (1862-1910)
Two hoboes strike on a get-rich quick scheme to kidnap an overly-energetic 9 year old.
Web-Book The Ransom of Red Chief

William Sydney Porter
O. Henry - pseudonym of William Sydney Porter

LINK TO: HUMOR, WIT, & SATIRE DISCUSSION

Questions to Consider

* How many reversals can you find in this story?
* What was Bill's greatest internal conflict?
*
* How does this Biblical proverb "He who sets a snare shall fall into it." express the theme of the story?
*
* What are the conflicts for the kidnappers?
* What about Sam and Bill makes this story all the more humorous?
* Could this story be told in the same way today?
Discussion Leader: BarbStAubrey

BarbStAubrey:
How many of  you remember this story from you school years. I think it may have been in 7th or 9th grade we read this - it was a hoot then and a still a hoot - then it reminded me of my  younger brother and now it reminds me of my grandboys a few years ago.

We start to discuss this short story on Wednesday April 15 - by making the discussion available for everyone to read we can easily link to The Ransom of Red Chief in the heading and have a quick laugh to start our day.

I smile thinking on how many innocents ended up becoming the bane of my existence as they acted out what was so natural to them... I bet y'all have like stories of sweet faced innocents causing havoc in your lives.

Pull up a chair on Wednesday and share in the fun with us...

mrssherlock:
 8)

BarbStAubrey:
It is a fun one isn't it Jackie - nothing like seeing a  youngster run rings around an adult that is trying to pull a scam. Poor Bill he is outmatched.

ALF43:
GRRRRR  I was attempting to make a point about the town being "as flat as a flannel cake" and I lost my whole post.

 A flannel cake looks like a pancake to me, but I've never heard it called this.  When I first read it, I thought it read FUNNEL cake.
Anyway,  I cracked up because the name of the town is SUMMIT.   Now that's funny, a town as flat as a pancake, called Summit.  OK then-  there must be a crowning point or apex in a townlike this, right? 
Certainly the peasantry was not elevated or eminent.  Doesn't this sentence open up an entire thought for the whole short story, even before we consider the plot?

The narrator of this short story describes a mysterious plot indeed. Bill afterward exressed the kidnapping idea as a moment or temporary mental apparition, (which they didn't find out about until later.)   ::)
Isn't an apparition an illusion, something ghostly?  This man(O.Henry) brilliantly sucks us right into this vortex doesn't he?
 All throughout this read I felt a compulsion to smile, shake my head in amazement at these 2 fools and wonder, puzzled, what were you thinking- a 9 year old?

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